In the Wee Hours
by Kavi Leighanna
Summary: She's not even sure what happens. It's so fast, so sudden. Sam's holding Danny when her vision starts to blur. Andy/Sam. Future!Fic. Same universe as "Saturday Morning" but not a necessary read.


_**Trigger warning: **__this story deals with mild non-descriptive pregnancy complications. There is a clinical description. If either of these things bother you, I appreciate the hit, but please, don't put yourself through it._

* * *

The third time she goes into labour, she wakes him up at three in the morning.

(He missed the first one, is the thing. On a call with Oliver and a rookie that's greener than green and gets trapped in the damn suspect's house. He can't answer his phone, can't leave the scene, can't do anything but wait.

He gets the millions of angry messages from Andy and Traci and breaks every traffic law he can think of to get to the hospital.

Afterwards, she admits, half drugged from pushing a watermelon out of the eye of a needle – they're calling her Avery, actually – she tells him it was terrifying. Until he walked through the door.)

The first thing they do is time the contractions. She had nasty Braxton-Hicks for weeks before Katie was born, so they're a little gun shy. This time though, she looks positively certain.

"I've been up for an hour," she tells him quietly. "Down to four minutes."

Still, she makes him sit with her while she times them for another half hour. They're careful, because Andy hates hospitals on a good day ("Too many bad memories," she tells him.) and she doesn't want to drag Avery, Katie or her dad awake for false labour. Thing is though, they get stronger. She's squeezing Sam's hand tighter and tighter with every one, and after pacing the hall for ten minutes, and working through two contractions, her water breaks.

They're not in a hurry, not really. Her dad comes over without much fuss and they don't have to wake the girls. She's pretty thankful for that, honestly. Katie's been mulish in the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy and she cannot for the life of her put her finger on why. She'd been dreading having to wake Katie up in active labour and deal with the on-coming tantrum.

Plus, it's her third pregnancy and the first one that's actually on schedule. (Avery was three weeks late. She'd been climbing the walls, at a loss of what to do since she really couldn't do much of anything. Katie had been almost a month early and spent some time in the NICU. Neither of them had ever been so scared.)

The trip and check in go without a hitch. She gets a good OB nurse, Lindsey, who is calm and competent. She asks them questions about their jobs, their lives, their daughters. Even admits that she prefers second- or third-time moms. Calmer, she thinks, prepared for what's coming.

It's pretty true for the most part. She's pretty confident as she works her way through the contractions. They wander the halls when the labour starts to slow, hoping to pick up the pace. Her doctor's there when they return, smiling in scrubs.

"Just took twin boys via c-section," he chirps. "How's this one?"

It's still another hour before she gets to push.

The sun's just brightening the sharp January air when their son gives his first cry. They're both over the moon, she's pretty sure Sam's crying. He's beautiful, she thinks. Her boy. She has to hand him over though, to the doctors, to Sam, for the afterbirth. The worst part because all she wants to do is hold her son. First boy of the McNally-Swarek clan.

(Though. It's really Swarek. She didn't even keep the name to smooth things over at work. It was kind of like her physical commitment to them. And maybe she likes playing with the rookies a little too much.)

Except it's not as smooth as Katie and Avery.

She's not even sure what happens. It's so fast, so sudden. Sam's holding Danny ("Daniel, Sam, I want to call him Daniel.") when her vision starts to blur. She barely hears her OB yelling about a PPH (what the hell is a PPH?) and Sam's face goes sheet white. In fact, she's pretty sure she's never seen him that pale and Katie took way too long before she cried for the first time.

"What-"

"Relax, Andy," her doctor says, offering a smile that's too tight around the eyes. "You're bleeding."

She honestly has no reaction. She's tired, is the thing, her eyes are drooping.

"Ah, Andy. Stay with me. Can you do that?"

"Tired." She just gave birth, dammit. She wants some sleep. She wants to hold her baby and get some sleep. "Danny?"

"He's fine. Perfect, even. Sam's got him. We need to focus on you. Andy, we have to get you to an ER."

It gets super groggy after that. She remembers vaguely hearing Sam's voice. Her OB's too. One last anguished cry of her name, then it's mostly black.

When she wakes up, it's just Sam in the room. She's scored a private one (luck of the draw, maybe, or the seriousness of her case? It's all still a blur) and he's at the window. She has to swallow twice and lick her lips before she can get her voice to work. "Sam."

He's at her bedside in the time it takes for her to blink. "Hey."

He sounds destroyed. His eyes are hollow. The hand that takes hers is desperate.

"Hi." She swallows again. "Danny?"

"Sleeping," he answers and his throat works with his own reflexive swallow. "Over there."

She looks towards his vague waving, but can't seem to lift her head. "Happened?"

Sam sighs, his hand coming up to her cheek. "Doc explained. Not sure I caught it all."

She smiles, squeezes his hand as best she can. "Try."

She'd had a PPH (which she learns stands for primary postpartum hemorrhage). He can't remember the statistics, considering she'd been bleeding when she'd passed out. Something about the placenta and the planned third stage not quite going right. They'd done emergency surgery.

She groans. It sucks. She's got maternity leave and everything, but surgery means less movement and she cannot stand not having a full range of motion. Hell, she'd shoved her way through the aftermath of Katie and Avery's births, and she'd been sore for days. Not a good sore either.

"Hey," he says, getting her attention. "You scared me."

She legitimately doesn't remember. Like. Any of it. At all. There's a black blur between holding Danny for the first time and then handing him over. She squeezes his hand again. "You were there."

Stupid short hand, but she's still groggy as hell. Seems to relax him though, if the set of his shoulders is anything to go by. He's not smiling though, just stroking at her hair, pushing it back away from her face.

"Kids are chomping at the bit," Sam says, scary quiet.

She's pretty sure her smile is serene. Feels that way, anyway, but she's got an IV in her arm. She can feel the cold numbness in her fingers. (She has weird reactions to anesthetics and IV painkillers. Can't feel her fingers or toes. They did a million tests the first time. She's okay.)

"Here?" she asks.

"Yeah. Couldn't keep Tommy away with his little girl in surgery."

She forces herself to look at him. Actually, properly look. He looks wrecked. Absolutely destroyed. "Hey. Fine."

He blows out a breath. He's been through worse with her. Hell, before they dated the _first_ time he'd been through worse. (A red coat. A bullet. Too long between registering the blood wasn't hers and that she'd taken one right to the vest.) She's not oblivious to how this is different, but she still pulled through. She's still here. And as long as she can fight she's not going anywhere.

There's a tiny tentative knock.

"Daddy, I- Mommy!"

She closes her eyes, braces for impact, but Sam's there first. Avery struggles against his hold.

"Hey, sweetie, calm down," she says, voice scratchy. And 'sweetie'? Since when. She uses pet names, sure, but not like this. Ugh. The drugs do funny things to her everything. Even so, she holds out her hands. Sam looks wary, but lifts Avery to the bed. She snuggles down immediately as Andy winces. She glares when Sam reaches to take Avery back.

Andy holds on as tight as she can. Avery's the oldest, been with them the longest, and it's kind of scary how much her daughter resembles her. She's tried to love her kids openly, like her dad did, but she's not always sure she hits the mark. Especially times like this, Avery curled against her, head hidden in her neck. She'll let Avery hide though. Cuddles her closer when she feels the hot tears against her skin.

Her dad looks a bit haunted when he comes in. Katie's against his shoulder, but the minute she catches sight of the bundle at the end of Andy's bed, she lights up.

"Mine baby," she says, pudgy hands reaching for Danny. Avery's long, thin, like Andy's always been. Katie's a bit like the Michelin Man.

Andy wants to watch Katie with Danny, she really does (Avery's done it before, is the thing. Andy already knows Avery's going to be a great big sister) but her dad's at her side. Her attention shifts, like it always does. Ever since her mom left. Andy's her dad's rock. She cannot be weak, even now.

"Always thought- The job."

Andy forces a chuckle, lifts her hand. Tommy takes it, squeezing hard. Too hard. Andy doesn't care. "I'm good." Except. She's not. She hurts. Well. She's sore. It sucks.

Tommy offers her a tight smile.

Andy just barely resists rolling her eyes. "Swarek."

He turns, as he always has. As he always does. She has to swallow around the sudden hit of emotion. Her family, immediate family, all here. All together. She offers her husband a blinding smile.

"I want to hold my son."

* * *

_I tried the Google for the mat leave thing. I know most companies offer up to a year of maternity leave. Unfortunately TPS couldn't give me a hand. I could have been blind. It's pretty late. _

_And, hilariously, like the last one I'm not 100% comfortable with it. I hadn't even meant to do it, honestly. But there was such overwhelming response the first time that it almost seemed unfair not to add to the little universe. This one's not quite as fluffy or happy, but it has a happy ending, right?_

_I'm working on a vague origin story too? We'll see. Just. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Because you welcomed me warmly into this fandom and it means a lot. _


End file.
